MPH: Mark Hughes on...

Michael sat in the Mercedes press conference looking and sounding shellshocked, confounded and almost embarrassed

McLaren and Michael Schumacher each arrived in Bahrain quietly confident. All the evidence suggested they were going to be in the thick of the action, fighting out the destiny of the race, certain they were about to get their respective seasons off to a flying start, that it was all there waiting to be taken.

Yet, post-qualifying, both were left bewildered and bemused. "Where the hell did that come from?" one McLaren driver was overheard saying to the other, fresh from the cockpit, uncomprehending at how they could be over 1s away from pole. Michael – also well over 1s off the qualifying pace – sat in the Mercedes press conference looking and sounding shellshocked, confounded and almost embarrassed.